COURT RULING SETS BACK KING'S EFFORT TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RABAT 000141 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2017 TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM KWMN MO SUBJECT: COURT RULING SETS BACK KING'S EFFORT TO CONSOLIDATE PARTIES REF: RABAT 2176 Classified by Polcouns Craig Karp for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: In a decision that could lead to enhanced separation of powers in Morocco, the Constitutional Court has struck down a provision of the bill revising the electoral code that would have required small parties to either merge with larger parties or sit out the 2007 parliamentary elections. However, the court upheld another controversial provision of the bill which would deny smaller parties seats on the 30-member list (informally) reserved for women. Women MPs from smaller parties vowed to continue to oppose this provision, calling it a "victory for the (Islamist) PJD." The court's rejection of the small party threshold represents a setback for the King's effort to promote consolidation of parties, intended principally to counterbalance the PJD. The success of the small parties in challenging the bill may make the Constitutional Court a more common venue of last resort as competing groups wrestle over legislation. End summary. -------------- Ruling Favors Small Parties... -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Parliamentary contacts confirmed to the Embassy on January 25 reports that Morocco's (judicial) Constitutional Council has found unconstitutional a clause in the bill revising the electoral code (reftel) which sets a threshold for political parties' participation in parliamentary elections, the next round of which will occur sometime before October, most likely in early or late summer. The clause struck down by the council stipulated that parties must have received at least three percent of the general vote in the 2002 elections in order to field candidates in 2007 (and beyond). ¶3. (C) This clause, intended to combat "balkanization" and press small groupings to merge into larger blocs, was fiercely opposed by many small parties, who deemed it undemocratic. MP Milouda Hazeb, who represents a district in Marrakesh for the small Constitutional Union party, which currently holds 16 out of the lower house's 325 seats, complained bitterly to poloff during a January 19 meeting that the three percent threshold discriminated against smaller parties like her own. -------------- ...But Not Women from Small Parties -------------- ¶4. (C) When reached for comment on January 25, Hazeb welcomed the Council's rejection of the three percent threshold, but expressed deep regret that the Council had upheld another clause which requires parties to win six percent or more of the general vote in order to take one of the 30 seats informally reserved for women on the "national list." The court's upholding of this clause, Hazeb asserted, will mean that the women occupying the 30 seats will now only come from the biggest parties represented in parliament "most probably from the (Islamist) Justice and Development Party. "This will be a major setback for Moroccan women, who will now only be represented by the biggest parties. The national list will no longer represent the diversity of Moroccan women," she asserted. ¶5. (C) Hazeb told poloff she and other female parliamentarians from small parties would aggressively lobby the Prime Minister, the Justice Minister, and counselors in the Royal Palace to not allow the six percent threshold to stand. Their ability to get the bill changed at this late stage appears to be a long shot. (Note: The King theoretically has the power to amend this or any bill before it is published, but in practice this power has not been exercised since the reign of Hassan II. End note.) ¶6. (C) NDI Morocco's resident director Gerard Latulippe echoed many of Hazeb's comments regarding the council's recent decision in a January 25 conversation with poloff. Latulippe also added that while eliminating the three percent threshold is a victory for the small parties, the socialist USFP, a senior partner in the ruling coalition, will likely protest the decision. For the USFP, allowing small parties, many of which have resulted as off-shoots of the USFP, to run candidates will likely result is less votes for the USFP, possibly playing into the hands of the (mainly Berber) UMP or the (Islamist) PJD. -------------- Comment -------------- RABAT 00000141 002 OF 002 ¶7. (C) The court's decision represents a setback for efforts to implement the King's call, made during his October speech opening parliament, for consolidation of parties and reducing the "balkanization" of the political landscape. Mohammed VI's consolidation call is an effort to reverse his father's legacy of a fractured and weak political party system, long viewed as a means of stability and control but now viewed as an obstacle to streamlining and reform. Perhaps more important, it is a means of strengthening traditional parties in the face of growing support for the Islamist PJD. ¶8. (C) Comment continued: The small parties' decision to challenge the bill in the Constitutional Council, and their success in doing so, represents a landmark of sorts. In the era of Hassan II, observers note, the parties would have been more likely to accept with resignation the imposition of the larger parties' (and the Palace's) will, with the assumption that the Constitutional Council would not dare issue a ruling that defied the King. Such assumptions appear to be erroding in the Morocco of Mohammed VI and may well make the Constitutional Court a more common venue of last resort as competing interests wrestle over legislation. End comment. ****************************************** Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat ****************************************** Riley